Rejection system



April 21, "19 64 J. D. GIULIE ETAL 3,129,803

REJECTION SYSTEM Filed May 10, 1962 S Sheets-Sheet l 0 67442455 E PEASLEV April 21, 1964 J. D. GlULlE ETAL 3,129,803

REJECTION SYSTEM Filed May 10, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 I ll nun INVENTORS: (/05 0. lfll/E Cl/AEL 5 E PEASLEV I M 1 4w 4 TTOP/VEKS' April 21, 1964 J. D. GlULlE ETAL 3,129,803

REJECTION SYSTEM Filed May 1.0, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS. J05 D. G/l/L/E Cf/AFZES f. 1 5/1515) www United States Patent 3,129,803 REJECTEON SYSTEM Joe D. Giulie, Los Altos, and Charles F. Peasley, San

Jose, Caliii, assignors to lllumitronic Systems Corporation, a corporation of California Filed May 10, 1962, Ser. No. 195,658 2 Claims. (til. 198-31) This application is a continuation-in-part of our application Serial No. 144,445, filed October 11, 1961.

This invention relates to a high speed rejection or segregation system wherein packages of merchandise or similar articles can be segregated into a plurality of groups depending upon an arbitrary basis or some particular property, such as the weight, of the articles.

Specifically, the invention relates to certain improvements on the machine of the type shown in application Serial No. 27,447, filed May 6, 1960, which application is assigned to the same assignee as the present applica tion.

In said application Serial No. 27,447, there is shown a segregating machine wherein a series of rods are propelled along an endless path with a series of merchandise carriers thereon and wherein said carriers can be deflected to one side or the other or allowed to pursue a straight path depending on some particular property of the articles being conveyed. The present invention relates to an improvement on said machine wherein certain of the parts are simplified and made more reliable in operation and also wherein provision is made for a larger number of paths for the segregated articles. For instance, in accordance with the teachings of the present invention, articles can be segregated into any number of groups and in accordance with the specific embodiment of the invention which is hereinafter given for illustration purposes, articles are segregated into five groups depending upon whether they are grossly over, slightly over, slightly under, grossly under or exactly on Weight. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, some of the carriers follow a straight path, but all are deflected to one side or the other.

In the description which follows, certain of the parts are not described in detail, reference being made to said application Serial No. 27,447 for those parts of the machine which have heretofore been described.

In the drawings forming part of this application:

FIGURE 1 is a plan View of a device embodying the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view of one of the merchandise carriers showing it on place on a roller chain.

FIGURE 3 is a front view of one of the merchandise carriers and a portion of one of the rods on which the carrier is located.

FIGURE 4 is a longitudinal sectional View of the device shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged partial view from the underside of the machine showing the improved mechanical switch arrangement.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the switch leaves and the holder for the switch leaves.

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged sectional view showing the manner of actuation of the mechanical switch.

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged partial view of the underside of another device embodying the invention.

Turning now to a description of the device by reference characters, there is shown a weighing mechanism generally designated 3 having a sensing element 9 which actuates an electrical switch It An endless belt 12 having guide rails 14 conveys articles over the weighing device and onto the segregating mechanism which constitutes the crux of the present invention. In this in- 3,129,803 Patented Apr. 21, 1964 stance, the switch It) is a five-position switch, although it will be understood that the switch 10 will have a number of positions corresponding to the number of lanes in which one wishes to segregate the merchandise.

The segregation device proper includes a pair of sprockets 18 mounted for rotation on shaft 26 which is driven by pulley 22 from a power source, not shown. A second set of sprockets 24 are mounted on the idler shaft 26. Endless roller chains 28 and 30 are mounted between sprockets 18 and 24 to provide two parallel endless chains moving in the same direction. Mounted between the chains 28 and 30 are a series of smooth, round rods 32. Preferably, two rods are mounted on adjacent pins, two pins are left blanks, and so on, but other arrangements of the rods on the chains can be employed. It will thus be apparent that as the shaft 20 is driven, the series of rods 32 will form a moving path over which articles can be conveyed. On each pair of adjacent rods 32, a carrier 34 is free to slide. Preferably, the carrier 34 is made of a plastic, such as nylon, and has a flat top portion 36 which is adapted to serve as a support for the article being classified and has grooves 33 therein which fit onto adjacent rods 32. The top of the carrier may be slightly larger than the space between adjacent rods, as is shown in the solid lines in FIGURE 2, or it may extend some distance over adjacent rods as is shown in the dot-dash line at 36A. Other forms of carriers can be employed, such as a block of plastic having holes through which the rods can slide or a loop of plastic around two adjacent rods. On the bottom side of the carrier 34 is mounted a cam follower 44 which is preferably made of metal and can be in the form of a pin or a piece of flat metal. The cam follower is preferably located at the middle of the carrier, but it can be at any position. Located beyond the path of travel provided by the rods 32 are five endless belts 46, 47, 48, 49 and St for the purpose of conveying articles after they have been segregated. From the struc ture thus far described, it is apparent that the carriers 34 are free to slide back and forth on the rod 32 and when once plawd in a certain position laterally, will tend to maintain that position unless forceably displaced.

Located on each side of the mechanism are the solenoids 52, 53, 54 and 55 which are connected by means of the wiring 56 and 58 to the switch 10. Each solenoid comprises a winding 69 around a suitable hollow core 62, into which an armature 64 will be drawn when the coil is energized. Connected to the armature 64 is a cam 66 which is in contact with a push rod 68 so that as the armature 64 is drawn into the solenoid, the cam 66 will cause a transverse motion of the push rod 63 (to the right in FIGURE 7), actuating one of switch blades as is hereinafter explained in detail.

Referring now particularly to FIGURES 5, 6 and 7, the mechanical switch 749 is supported at a convenient location in the path of travel of the rods under the segregator. This support is provided by plates and 91 bolted on opposite sides of the frame. Bars 92 and 93 are welded to plates 90 and 91. Each bar extends through an aperture 95 in the frame, the two bars meeting centrally of the segregator. A pair of pins 96 are secured in the end of one bar and fit snugly into recesses in the other bar to retain the two bars in fixed alignment.- Mounted between the ends of the two bars on the pins 96 is the support arm 97 on switch frame 74 (FIGURES 5 and 7). The support arm 97 has apertures 98 to pass the pins 96. Mounted adjacent the end of each bar are guides 94 for the push rods 68A, B, C and D. Return springs 99 fit over each push rod and extend between one of the guides 94 and a collar 101 provided on the rod carrying the spring.

The mechanical switch 7 it includes a frame member 74 having attached thereto leaf springs 76, 77, 78 and '79. The two inner leaf springs '77 and 78 are parallel to each other, leaving a free path 72 between them. The outer springs 76 and '79 are bent inwardly toward the springs 77 and 78 as is shown in FIGURE 5. The two outer springs have holes Hi3 therein so that one of the push rods can extend through each of the holes 193 and actuate the inner spring. Thus, the push rod 68B is adapted to move the spring 77 without moving the spring 76, while push rod 68A will push against the spring 76 and thus deflect both springs 76 and 77. Similarly, the rods 68C and 68D actuate the springs 78 and 79. Thus, if none of the solenoids is activated, one of the carriers in passing over the switch will have its cam follower pass directly through the opening 72. If the push rod e83 is pushed, the cam follower will pass between springs 76 and 77, while if the rod 68A is pushed, the cam follower will pass outside of the spring 7d and so on.

Mounted beyond the switch and in the path of the moving cam followers are the deflector rods 80, 81, 32 and 83. The ends of each of these rods are sharpened as shown, and they fit closely together so that only a slight deflection is necessary by the switch to cause a carrier to follow the desired path. Thus, if a carrier 10 is deflected outside of the spring 76, the cam-like action of the rod 80 will carry it to the extreme edge of the machine, while if the cam follower passes between the springs 76 and 77, the rod 81 will carry the carrier to the intermediate position where it will be discharged on belt 47 and so on.

The bars Mid and 102 are placed in such a manner that after one of the carriers has discharged an article thereon, it will be ultimately returned to the center of the machine for a repetition of the cycle as the carrier bar passes under the machine.

Although the segregating device has been described in conjunction with a scale wherein articles within a given tolerance move in a straight path, while those which are underor over-weight are diverted to other paths, it will be obvious that the segregating device need not be used with a scale but can be used in any instance wherein it is desired to segregate articles. For instance, instead of the scale 8, one might have a device for detecting whether articles were above or below a certain size limitation, to determine whether a box was fully filled or under-filled, or to segregrate articles as to color or other characteristics. Segregation can also be on a purely arbitrary basis so that in a five lane machine every fifth article might follow the same path. This is useful when a machine of high throughput is followed by several machines or lanes of lower throughput. It is also obvious that the exact form of scale need not be used and that other means could be used to replace the solenoids for displacing the carriers to the proper path.

In some instances, it is desired to provide a device wherein the carriers are always deflected. For instance, on-weight packages might be deflected in one direction, while off-weight packages are deflected in another. Also, in many instances, the segregation device of the present invention may be used to divert articles to the right or left on some purely arbitrary basis such as when one wishes to divide a single, rapidly-moving row of articles into two rows to accommodate some machine having a smaller throughput.

In FIGURE 8, a suitable device is shown wherein all of the carriers are deflected. Here, returning bars 1M and 106 are provided so that the cam followers of all the carriers will pass between the two bars at the center of the machine, as at 108. A mechanical switch having a single blade 11th is provided having a deflecting rod 112. Deflector rods 114 and 116 serve the purpose heretofore described. Thus, when a carrier passes over the switch shown, if the blade 11th is in its undeflected position, as illustrated, the cam follower of the carrier will pass under the blade and will be engaged by the rail 114 and will be deflected to the right as the carrier moves on over the conveyor. On the other hand, if the rod 112 pushes the switch into a downward position, the follower of the carrier will ride above the blade 1110 and will then engage the rail 116 and will be deflected to the left.

It will be obvious that the mechanical switch 70 must be located in such a manner that articles passing over the belt 12 will arrive at a carrier at the proper time. This can most easily be accomplished by making the distance between the mechanical switch and the position where the carriers pick up the articles equal to the distance between the point where the articles are weighed and then are picked up by a carrier and by having the weighing belt 12 and the segregator chains move at the same speed. However, other synchronization means can be used.

In the operation of the device, it has been assumed that each carrier would carry one article. However, the device is adapted to handle articles considerably longer than one carrier, so that the deflection of the switch 7@ can be set so that 2, 3 or even more carriers are acted upon at each weighing, or like measurement, so that longer articles can easily be handled.

Although the invention has primarily been described in connection with a 5-way segregating mechanism, it is obvious that a smaller or larger number of lanes might be employed.

We claim:

1. A segregation device comprising:

(a) an endless conveyor;

(b) means for driving said conveyor in a single direction;

(0) a plurality of carriers slidably mounted on said conveyor for movement laterally thereof perpendicular to the direction of movement of said conveyor, each of said carriers having a cam follower thereon;

(d) first cam means comprising at least two blades below and adjacent said conveyor, said blades being supported at one end and being flexible and capable of being deflected so as to contact the said cam followers of the said carriers whereby slightly to divert the said carriers from their paths;

(a) means for actuating said blades, said means comprising a first push rod adapted to actuate only one of said blades and a second push rod adapted to push the second of said blades into contact with the first whereby to actuate the said blades in unison whereby the second push rod may control both of the said blades;

(f) means for sliding the push rods;

g) second cam means positioned adjacent the said conveyor at a point along the path of travel thereof subsequent to the said blades, said second cam means being so positioned that the cam follower of a diverted follower passing thereby will be contacted and will be further diverted from its path as the conveyor moves and a non-diverted carrier will not be contacted and diverted;

(h) and a loading station for said conveyor at a point along the path of conveyor travel subsequent to the said blades.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein the first cam means comprises four blades arranged in two pairs, each of the said pairs having a pair of push rods, the first of each pair of push rods being adapted to actuate only one of said blades and the second of said push rods of each pair being adapted to actuate both of said blades in unison by causing one of said blades to contact the other blade.

Seaborn Nov. 21, 1961 Seaborn Apr. 24, 1962 

1. A SEGREGATION DEVICE COMPRISING: (A) AN ENDLESS CONVEYOR; (B) MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID CONVEYOR IN A SINGLE DIRECTION; (C) A PLURALITY OF CARRIERS SLIDABLY MOUNTED ON SAID CONVEYOR FOR MOVEMENT LATERALLY THEREOF PERPENDICULAR TO THE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT OF SAID CONVEYOR, EACH OF SAID CARRIERS HAVING A CAM FOLLOWER THEREON; (D) FIRST CAM MEANS COMPRISING AT LEAST TWO BLADES BELOW AND ADJACENT SAID CONVEYOR, SAID BLADES BEING SUPPORTED AT ONE END AND BEING FLEXIBLE AND CAPABLE OF BEING DEFLECTED SO AS TO CONTACT THE SAID CAM FOLLOWERS OF THE SAID CARRIERS WHEREBY SLIGHTLY TO DIVERT THE SAID CARRIERS FROM THEIR PATHS; 